Microsoft begins year by chopping support for Windows 8 and older IE editions

It’s a bold move, but it’s one that has to be done. Microsoft has officially ended its support of a string of products, including Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10, as well as the heavily flawed Windows 8 operating system.

No one should be surprised by Microsoft’s move this week, as they had made the announcement back in August of 2014 that they would end support of these products on the exact day that they did: January 12, 2016.

If anyone is still running these versions of IE or Windows 8, they will no longer have access to any new patches to protect themselves from malware and other risks.

Users who wish to continue using Internet Explorer will need to upgrade to IE 11, which Microsoft says will be the final version of the controversial web browser.

There are however a few conditions that will extend support for these older web browsers, although there aren’t likely to be many people who meet the criteria. If you are still using Windows Vista (yes, Vista) or Windows Server 2008, you’ll still get support for IE9. If you’re using Windows Server 2012, you’re in luck! You’ll still get support for IE10.

It’s hard truth to accept, but if you haven’t at least upgraded to IE11 yet, it’s time to learn about how running out-of-date software and hardware can mean a slew of problems for performance and security.

As for Windows 8…

Although the discontinued support of older Internet Explorer versions is significant, what’s arguably bigger is Microsoft’s decision to kill off support for Windows 8. This move signifies the company’s desire to distance itself from what was intended to be a more positively significant operating system.

The result was met with less-than-stellar reviews from critics, and confusion from users who had never been introduced to one operating system with two interfaces.

It should be known that with Microsoft’s announcement this week, Windows 8.1 is still under full support. Users are encouraged to take advantage an upgrade to Windows 10, which can be done for free.

Those who are still using Windows 8 are strongly encouraged to move up to either Windows 8.1 (which must be done in the Windows Store online), or they can streamline the process and simply download Windows 10.

In an effort to further distance itself from Internet Explorer, users who upgrade to Windows 10 will even notice a brand new built-in web browser called Microsoft Edge.

Moving Onward

Microsoft knows it has a lot of catching up to when it comes both their web browsers and operating system. Since the introduction of Mozilla Firefox in 2002 and Google Chrome in 2008, Microsoft has never been able to gain back the market share it once had during the Internet Explorer 6 era.

While some reviewers have called Edge a “promising” Internet Explorer replacement, it has failed to attract a noticeable download rate as users continue to stick to Chrome or Firefox as their default browser.

Author Bio: Michael Cartier is a writer on all things Web and is a blogger for DirectSatTV. Reach out to Michael at arzemelo AT gmail DOT com.